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Elizabeth Fuller (1645-1698)
}} Biography Elizabeth was the 2nd child born to Robert Fuller and Sarah Bowen about 1645. Her family lived first in Salem, Mass. and later moved to Rehoboth, Mass. when He drew shares in the general divisions of land in 1661 and 1668 becoming one of the first proprietors in Rehoboth. Her father Robert was the first and only bricklayer in New England for many years. Elizabeth married Nehemiah Sabin on 4 Aug 1672. Elizabeth's brothers Captain Samuel Fuller and John Fuller were all defenders in King Philip's War and along with Elizabeth's first husband, Nehemiah Sabin, were slain by the Indians, 1676, leaving children Elizabeth and David. She had several children by her second husband, Eleazer Wheelock, of Medfield, Mass. Their grandson Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, D. D., was the founder and first President of Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. Dr. Wheelock was a man whose lifework was unusually filled with original philanthropy. Research Notes A diligent search failed to uncover a male Fuller in the numerous early Mass. Fuller families who knowingly had a wife Elizabeth who, in 1672, would have been the widow Elizabeth Fuller. Thus, there was only one Elizabeth Fuller of sufficient age at Rehoboth to have m. there of record Aug. 1, 1672 to Nehemiah Sabin, s. of William Sabin, b. of record at Rehoboth May 28, 1647. Nehemiah and Elizabeth had three children at Rehoboth before Nehemiah was slain by Indians in June 1676 and bur. at Narragansett, Rhode Island, a casualty of the King Philip's War. Of the three children, two were sons, David & Daniel, with David dying at the age of three months in early 1675. The remaining son Daniel, whose birth is not of record, is called the orphaned son of Nehemiah Sabin in the 1690 right to land at Rehoboth. This right was via the quit-claim deed in late 1689 from Maj. William Bradford to the town of Rehoboth. Maj. Bradford, an elder son of the late Gov. William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony, gave multiple quit-claim deeds on behalf of his deceased father to various towns of the former Plymouth Colony. After Nehemiah Sabin's death, the widow Elizabeth m. of record at Rehoboth Apr. 17, 1678 as his first wife, Eleazer Wheelock of Medfield, Mass. This marriage is recorded in both the Rehoboth and Medfield records as being to Elizabeth Fuller, but the date of the marriage appears only in the Rehoboth record. Although it has become accepted as fact that Eleazer Wheelock's wife Elizabeth Fuller was the former widow Elizabeth (Fuller) Sabin, the writer is unaware of any published research of deeds, wills, etc. in Mass. and Conn. that prove that Eleazer Wheelock of Medfield, Mass. was the "father-in-law" (i.e., stepfather) of Elizabeth's son Daniel Sabin of Rehoboth, Mass. Because of the turmoil of the King Philip's War, and particularly at Rehoboth, the writer believes the most plausible explanation is that the Rehoboth town clerk failed to include at Elizabeth's 1678 marriage to Eleazer that Elizabeth Fuller was "alias Sabin." References * #47291449